Taking an aspirin a day can slash your risk of killer disease by 15%, study finds
TAKING an aspirin a day could cut your risk of diabetes by 15 per cent, a study shows.
Over-65s who took a 100mg pill daily were less at risk of type 2 diabetes, Australian researchers found.
They tracked rates in 16,209 healthy adults for nearly five years, with half given the painkiller and the others getting a placebo.
Professor Sophia Zoungas, of Monash University in Melbourne, said: “Aspirin treatment reduced incident diabetes and slowed the increase in blood glucose in healthy older adults.
“Given the increasing prevalence of diabetes in older adults, the potential for anti-inflammatory agents like aspirin to prevent type 2 diabetes or improve glucose levels needs further study.”
More than 5million Brits are thought to be living with diabetes, with cases doubling in the last 15 years.
The NHS spends at least £10billion a year on the disease — around 10 per cent of its entire budget.
It causes blood sugar levels to become too high and can lead to heart disease and stroke over time.
Previous research has shown daily aspirin can help reduce the risk of heart attack, although it can also increase the chances of bleeding in the organs that digest food like your stomach.
The latest study, presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Hamburg, looked at how taking aspirin affects the risk of diabetes.
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Over the 4.7 years, 995 participants were diagnosed with diabetes or started taking blood sugar-lowering drugs.
The aspirin group were less likely to get diabetes and also saw a slower increase in blood sugar levels over the course of the study.
However, researchers warned people should not start taking aspirin everyday unless their doctor tells them to.
Professor Zoungas said: “Earlier published trial findings in 2018 showed aspirin did not prolong healthy independent living, but was associated with a significantly increased risk of bleeding.
“Major prescribing guidelines now recommend older adults take daily aspirin only when there is a medical reason to do so, such as after a heart attack.
“Although these new findings are of interest, they do not change the clinical advice about aspirin use in older people at this time.”
Dr Faye Riley, research communications manager at Diabetes UK, said the link between aspirin and diabetes prevention "remains unclear".
She added: "With more than 2.4 million people in the UK at high risk of type 2 diabetes, there's an urgent need to find new and better ways to help people avoid the condition.
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"While this research found that taking a daily low-dose aspirin was linked to a small decrease in risk of type 2 diabetes in older people, this approach may have unwanted side effects.
"We do know the best ways to reduce your risk of type 2 are getting support to lose weight if you need to, eating a healthy, balanced diet and doing more physical activity. "